The Game
by Arianna Leciav
Summary: To some poker is psychological warfare. To some poker is an art form. To others poker is a way of life. To Lily it was a way to lose money. To James it was a game that always gave him just what he wanted. AN: All criticism taken and used.


This is a one-shot, and will have no sequel. As for the ending, I'm working on it. I've actually fixed the story ten, TEN, times to try to get the ending just right. Please give me feedback so I can make the ending better.

Arianna

**The Game**

Lily Evans was a fighter. When her mom told her at the age of three that she could not have a cookie before dinner, Lily climbed up the cupboard shelves, took the cookie jar off of the top of the fridge, and ate every last cookie. She, of course, went to bed with no dinner because she was too sick to eat anything.

When Lily's sister, Petunia, told Lily that she couldn't play hopscotch with her and her friends, Lily cried and pushed Petunia, breaking her arm. While Lily still couldn't play hopscotch with Petunia and her friends, she did get the satisfaction knowing that Petunia couldn't play with them either.

When James Potter told Lily that she couldn't fly a broom because she was a girl, Lily strode over to him, grabbed his broom, and hit him over the head with it. She then told him he couldn't fly a broom because he was crying like a girl.

But when Lily's friends told her that she couldn't play poker because she was dreadful at it, she threw down her cards and agreed with them: she couldn't play. She couldn't play because she didn't understand the fundamentals of the game, and she couldn't play because she'd just lost her last Knut.

"Lily, I'm sure you could play if someone who knew all the tricks taught you how to play," Alice said.

Lily only shook her head. "You three have all tried to teach me how to play, and I still don't get it. I don't even know why I want to play. The only thing that happens is I lose all my money."

"Lily, Lily, Lily," Megan said, clicking her tongue. "We aren't experts. We hardly play card games at all. In fact, the only reason we haven't lost all our money yet is that we have you, who loses much worse than us."

"It's true. You should find a boy who can play poker well. I'd bet, not literally, that he'd be able to teach you much better than any of us," Jenny added.

Lily thought about this. It was true that her friends weren't very good teachers; there was a reason she was their tutor and not vice versa. If Lily could learn how to play poker properly, then maybe she'd be able to get all the money she'd lost back, and be able to buy those cute shoes she'd seen in Hogsmeade.

Lily stood up from her chair and headed towards the door to the Common Room.

"What the heck. Let's find me a man."

br 

James Potter was a lucky guy. When his dad had taken him to Diagon Alley at the age of five, he had been the one millionth customer through the doors of the Quidditch store since it's grand opening and so he was given his first broom ever: a Clean Sweep Three, the best broom at the time.

When James' mom took him to Zonko's to pick out a birthday present, he entered a contest and won a Zonko's shopping spree for four hundred galleons. His mom wasn't too happy, so all his purchases were confiscated until his father snuck them back to him just before he got onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time.

When James and his friends pulled their first detention-worthy prank—involving shaving cream, a box of tissues, one-half cup laundry detergent, lots of string and glue, and seven cats—a girl had told on them. With her information, a teacher had found them in the act, and James and his friends had somehow disappeared into a wall. They were never officially caught. Yes, James Potter was a very lucky guy.

So when James found out that his fellow Head Lily didn't know how to play poker, and needed an expert to teach her, he considered himself luckier at that point than ever before.

"Of course I can teach you to play, Lily. It's actually pretty easy once you understand the rules."

"Thanks, James. I just want to warn you that I am truly terrible. I've never won a game."

"Okay, we're not going to actually bet anything, since, you know, you can't play to save your life," James said with a sarcastic smile.

James and Lily sat down at the coffee table by the fireplace, and they began their lesson.

Lily had heard all the rules before; she just couldn't figure out how the rules and the cards fit together. She also had nothing even close to a poker face. It probably couldn't have hurt for her to have a bit more luck, too.

br 

"So now that we've been through the game seventeen times, and you haven't won yet, I think you're starting to pick it up. You didn't throw down your cards in a fit of anger this time! That's a big improvement, Lily," James said.

Lily looked down at James shuffling the deck for the next game. "I hate to say this, but I think we should start betting. It would give me more of an incentive to try to win. Plus, I need to get all the money I lost on Megan, Jenny, and Alice back, from you or from them: I'm not picky."

He only laughed. "Lily, how do you think I got money for my new broom? I certainly didn't earn it by working."

"Oh. I wondered why everyone suggested you teach me, but none of them wanted to join in. But really, I want to start betting with something, like crackers or doing the other winner's homework."

"Fine," James said, shrugging. "If you want more duties on your shoulders."

Only an hour later Lily had to do three History of Magic essays, start a food fight at breakfast the next morning, do rounds every Friday for the next two months, dye her hair blue and pretend it was normal, and film Remus' reaction when she gave him a wet willie. James only had to make sure he wasn't the one Lily threw food at.

"Lily, I really think we should stop. I don't want to make you do anything else; you already have too many things to do with out all this junk to worry about. Face the facts: you need to give up poker."

"I can't. I've never given up on anything until I could do it. No exceptions. I have to win just one game."

James scratched the back of his neck. "If you're going to be that way" (Lily nodded her head viciously) "then we have to up the bet. If you win this next game, all the other bets are dropped. If I win this game, you have to give me a kiss. A good one, mind you."

Lily picked at her nails, thinking over the bet.

"Deal."

"Okay, Lily, but don't forget it was your choice. Same rules as before with the aces as wild cards."

James dealt five cards to each of them, then placed the rest of the deck in the middle of the table. Lily picked up her cards and looked at them at the same time he picked up his cards.

"Give me three cards, James."

He sent the cards her way, and picked up two for himself. He looked over the cards, and up at Lily, who was frowning.

"Sorry, Lily, but I think I won. Royal flush," he said, fanning out his cards. "What did you get?"

Lily looked down at hand, biting her lip in disappointment. She never got the hang of the poker face.

Lily just sat there staring at her cards. She held three kings and two aces. She'd actually won the game.

As Head Girl, Lily believed in the truth. She honored the truth. Sometimes she even told the truth. This was not one of those times.

"Oh, shoot!" Lily said, throwing her cards down scattering the rest of the deck. "Well, let's do this. I guess you won."

Lily stood up and straightened her skirt nervously. James looked up at her, and stood also. They were only inches apart, and Lily had already closed her eyes. But James just stood there looking at her.

"Lily," he sighed, "I can't do this. I don't want you to kiss me because you lost a game of poker; I want you to kiss me because you want to." Then he turned around and walked away.

Lily stared after him blankly when she realized two things. The first was that she actually wanted James to kiss her. The second was more important at the moment, however.

She called after James, "Do I still have to do your homework?"


End file.
